When it rains it pours!

Recently while Jay has been away I have found myself trying to wade through the many tasks of getting through a 1st birthday party, Xmas gift making, wrapping,decorating and cooking. I have never been more busy yet found myself completely lonely and feeling disheveled.
Then Xmas happened! Wow what a beautiful time we had on the two days we celebrated. Xmas eve with my folks and family and Xmas day with Jay's family. It was great fun for us and the kids. Needless to say my house now resembles a toy warehouse! I am glad a lot of gift givers asked what to get the kids and we didn't end up with too many plastic things. However I will be throwing around the names of some Steiner inspired shops come Jaxon's birthday in a month or so.
Great things have been happening. things that make me want to reach up to the sky and embrace the sunshine that is summertime. My close friends V and Dame just had a wonderful reception in Wangaratta to celebrate their wedding they had in Thailand. We stayed over the weekend in Wangaratta, kid free and footloose and fancy free. What a great time we had. They are a truly gorgeous couple who are expecting a bubby in April.....Oh I can wait! And V is probably the cutest pregnant lady I have seen!
My close friend Ellen just had a beautiful boy Baby Saxon River. Gorgeous baby! I was anticipating this birth for a while and had made several cute things for bubs. Some of which I forgot to take photos of but are still fresh in my mind!

We have just come back from a 5 day stint in Echuca where we camped on the banks of the Murray with some great friend.We spent new years here and had a ball. I myself was sceptical how I would manage with 2 kids, my partner and the heat, but it was great fun. We even had a wading pool for the kids to play in. Fun was had by all and we got to spend some great time with friends and spoil ourselves by going out for tea and going for cruises on the boat. Cant wait till next time!

(The down fall of the great time was I ended up with gastro which I am still feeling seedy from....I will recover though!)

Well Jay goes away again Monday and I am facing that whole "single mumdom" thing again. I am planning on throwing myself into a book I am waiting to get. It is a book on making toys and dolls so no doubt you will see the creations soon. Oh I have so much to keep me occupied. 2 boys, lots of sewing and the occasional glass of red. Hey I may just enjoy myself yet!!!!

My How time Fly's!!!!

I have been trying to get back and type up another blog but this week has been hard to say the least. I have had a very chaotic week. Jay went away to Maryjig to work. I had my first week alone and as a pretend single parent. I single handily organised a 1 st birthday party with a little help from my Mum and Dad. Yes it's been chaotic!!!!!!!!!!

I have however enjoyed having some solitude in my life at night time. It has given me the opportunity to enjoy sewing and reading. I have had the pleasure of my sisters company some nights and also some of my close buddies dropping by for pizza and a chat.

I had the pleasure of seeing Missy Higgins at Rod Laver Arena last week. I had yet another amazing experience. (I have seen her before at the Palais in St Kilda!) Anyone who is a long time fan knows of her as an unearthed winner on Triple J some years ago. I have followed her music career closely as I am/was in some rights a singer and find her to be a really good vocal range to sing along to. I also think her songs are a very close extraction of my emotions and life experiences, through my personal interpretation of course. Missy is a legend, a down to earth girl who is real and a great role model for so many girls growing into young women.Love you Missy!!!!!!!!!

I have taken time to reflect on my life this last week and am finding it hard to know what to plan for next year. I should know however not to plan too much and not to count my chickens before they hatch! With Jay away I have to postpone a lot of my selfish yet redeemable conquests. I would like to go back and study next year. I had planned to study at NMIT, a great course entitled "Professional writing and editing." It is an intense course that allows me to come away with lots of great qualifications and explores such things as play writing, editing, poetry,novel writing and many other interesting subjects.I could then follow it on to my dream of being a journalist. As a lot of things are going on right now I will have to see if maybe I can apply late and start half way next year. We will see!

The veggie garden is thriving and providing us with some great produce. I have made zucchini slice that had a flavour that only organic produce can provide. The kids are really enjoying the benefits of seeing it all grow. Jaxon is continually racing across the yard to see what he can pick for mummy today!

Kaya's party was an absolute cracker. It was a lot of fun for everyone. I can honestly say that it went extremely well. Food went down well. People were enjoying themselves and most importantly Kaya had a ball. I tell you this kid was in his element. Food, food and more food. He loved the cake. The birthday song was a hit with him. He looked at everyone with this huge smile and was just wondering why everyone was singing to him. He just kept grinning and giggling. I was wrapped!

So this week I am going to take it slowly. Spend some time making some soulful Xmas yummies. Maybe do some sewing. Thursday is Kaya's birthday so we plan to spend it at the St Andrews Twilight market with some great close friends. I will spend the week further reflecting life and take some time to reflect on what has been and what is to come.

And Now............more and more!

Having no car has made it very easy to fall into a pattern of creativeness that has lasted a week long. In between Xmas shopping and the usual chores of being a mum. I can say I feel much like a chook who has been scratching around her nest all week. I thought you only nested when you were pregnant, and no I am not and will not again go there. Two boys is definitely where I draw the line!

However on that note the boys have been impressively good. Kaya is now sleeping through, waking only for a drink early morning and then dozing again. Jax is wrapped to have a little brother sharing his room and even stays in his own bed now!

We have been working on the boys room, they have to share at least until the renovation is built. Jay built a lovely wardrobe in there that is made from recycled hardwood. Came up beautiful once put through the thickniser. I have been painting red accessories to match their doona covers.Not to mention their funky cushions I made. The boys finally have a theme to their room and a sense of boyish identity.Speaking of cushions I finished making the cushions I am giving my nieces and nephews for Xmas. I have even wrapped them! I am trying to be organised as there are only 2 weeks till Kaya's 1st Birthday party! I will also be doing a lot of the single parenting thing in the next few weeks as Jay has to work away on a building project.Quietly trying not to think about it all. I have kept myself busy to distract, I guess.

I bought this gorgeous paper from a local lady a couple of weeks back.( I must add that I stocked up on it and have a massive supply now....maybe a little too massive!)It has been great to make invites and Xmas cards and birthday cards. I am even going to make little tags with the boys pictures on for our Xmas tree. It's great stuff if anyone is interested I can give you her number. I think she does the convent market at Abbotsford and Yarra Glen market as well.

Santa is finished and on the wall at our house. I think he turned out alright. He will be staying inside though as I am worried he might get ruined outside in the weather. Kaya is a little uncertain about him.We are all however anticipating the arrival of our Xmas tree next week and will be preparing with lots of decoration making this week.As always lots to do.On a lighter note to finish my post this week. i went to see Priscilla the musical this week. All I can say is wooooooooooooooooow! It was amazing, costumes where unbelievable, singing fantastic, audience interaction superb and dancing just spectacular! If anyone has seen it they will know what I mean when I mention the ping pong bit! As in the movie they explore Bob's wife's talented ping pong show! If you get a chance to see it please do as it was such a great experience and the best bit is it's all Australian as it is adapted from the Australian made movie.

Oh and before I leave to do more fun creative things on this hot and sunny day, I would like to say thank you to the lovely blogger's who have been leaving comments and making me feel soooooooo welcome.Thank you!

Busy Bee!

It has been a crazy week to say the least. Car breaking down, things to finish for Xmas, 1st birthday invites to make, photos to be taken for Xmas cards and dresses to be bought for a function pre Xmas..........ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Things didn't quite get finished but I did finished a few major projects I replaced some clothes on a wooden wire doll family for a friend. Made a wall hanging for Jax's room, from wet felting. I returned to work on Santa who is going on our front door. Some of you girls may remember me working on him at Daylesford. He is nearly finished and I will publish his gradual creation next blog.



I also began work on my next exhibition piece for "Thou Art Mum" group. I decided to go with a theme of "a Postcard from my garden" This however may change as I go along but I am going to try using some silk in the wet felting technique which is new for me. Could be good,but could be a disaster. It's all part of the fun!







So as you can see I have been busy, busy. Did I mention while I was doing all this I was looking after my two boys!Arn't females such efficient creatures? Oh and I moved Kaya into Jax's room and have successfully orientated them into putting up with one another....they are sleeping great....touch wood!





Now that I have vented all of my creations for the week I feel absolutely exhausted! I can safely say though now the rain has come we will all sleep better, the gardens will love it and the farmers too. My veggie garden is feeling much like a baby to me, lovingly nurtured and proudly photographed. It makes me feel great to see such color and self sufficiency come from my little patch of Melbourne. It makes all the chaos drain away and help me prepare for what will be for the next week.

I am here

Isn't it strange how a weekend away can put a strange slant on the realities and the wants and needs of a person?It is why I now find myself starting to collaborate a blog at long last!

I am one who enjoys other peoples creations and find them to help inspire me to keep on creating myself.I believe a creative intervention of ones soul helps express inner emotion and also helps calm and relax enough to escape stresses of daily life.

There are things that I love that make me want to create. Things that I have watched grow and develop into great works of art. Things that help me try and create great works of art or there abouts!

For a long time now I have been creating bits and bobs and thinking to myself that maybe just maybe someone else might find a great inspiration through me as I have through so many others. I have enjoyed making things taking myself back to that almost wholemeal/organic way of living and creating . Or simply just making a special gift or keepsake for a near and dear one. For the meaning of gifts can so easily become a consumer/marketing orientated ploy to grab you by the collar and take you to the nearest shopping center to spend, spend spend. When by making and moulding a gift is far more appreciated and satisfying.

So after a lovely weekend in Daylesford with some pretty amazing women I am inspired and am also, after an amazing massage relaxed.I come away from the weekend feeling very thankful for the wonderful company and the chance to sample some lovely food and wine. I am mostly thankful for being able to experience the wonderful creations of the women who accompanied me on the break from our day to day lives. I have met some new people and hope that we will meet again. For those who I have met before I hope that we can do it again soon.

I finish this blog watching the sun go down and listen to the boys and the orchastrated banging and crashing of the toys on the floorboards as their Dad lay on the couch watching Australian Idol and I remember what the masseuse said to me "Remember to Relax!"